Npower Championship Matchday Twenty-Four: Barnsley v Birmingham City

25 December 2012 06:15

Viewed : 46

Match Preview

Team News:

The Reds have been shorn of their central defensive partnership for the Boxing Day clash with Birmingham. Stephen Foster picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in last weekend’s last gasp victory at Millwall so serves a one match suspension, whilst Martin Cranie was forced off just 20 minutes into that game with an ankle injury and will not be fit.

Scott Wiseman, who replaced Cranie at the Den is set to start with either Jim McNulty coming in to partner him or Bobby Hassell will move back from midfield.

The Reds though are still depleted in the midfield department with Akos Buzsaky, Rueben Noble-Lazarus, Jacob Mellis and Emile Sinclair, who all missed Millwall, still not ready to return.

Striker Craig Davies is not expected to have recovered from the knock that sidelined him at the weekend so Chris Dagnall is set for his first home start since October, partnering Saturday’s match winner Marcus Tudgay.

Last time out - Barnsley Team:

Luke Steele

Bobby Hassell

Scott Golbourne

Stephen Foster

Martin Cranie

John Stones

Stephen Dawson

Jim O’Brien

David Perkins

Chris Dagnall

Marcus Tudgay Head To Head

Last Six Barnsley v Birmingham Results:

22/9/12 Birmingham 0-5 Barnsley (Championship)

21/2/12 Barnsley 1-3 Birmingham (Championship)

24/9/11 Birmingham 1-1 Barnsley (Championship)

10/3/09 Barnsley 1-1 Birmingham (Championship)

23/8/08 Birmingham 2-0 Barnsley (Championship)

9/4/07 Barnsley 1-0 Birmingham (Championship)

Overall Record:

Barnsley Wins: 21

Birmingham Wins: 35

Draws: 18

Barnsley Goals: 96

Birmingham Goals: 117

At Oakwell:

Barnsley Wins: 12

Birmingham Wins: 16

Draws: 9

Barnsley Goals: 55

Birmingham: 60

This Season

Last six 2012-2013 results:

Birmingham:

22/12/12 Birmingham 2-2 Burnley (Championship)

15/12/12 Birmingham 2-2 Crystal Palace (Championship)

8/12/12 Wolves 1-0 Birmingham (Championship)

30/11/12 Birmingham 3-2 Middlesbrough (Championship)

27/11/12 Blackpool 1-1 Birmingham (Championship)

24/11/12 Derby 3-2 Birmingham (Championship)

W: 1 D: 3 L: 2 F: 10 A: 10 GD: 0 Points: 6

Barnsley:

22/12/12 Millwall 1-2 Barnsley (Championship)

15/12/12 Barnsley 0–1 Sheffield Wednesday (Championship)

8/12/12 Leicester 2-2 Barnsley (Championship)

1/12/12 Watford 4-1 Barnsley (Championship)

27/11/12 Barnsley 1-1 Burnley (Championship)

24/11/12 Barnsley 1-2 Cardiff (Championship)

W: 1 D: 2 L: 3 F: 7 A: 11 GD: -4 Points: 5

Interesting Stats:

Boxing Day marks the start of the second half of the 2012-2013 Npower Championship season and The Reds are looking to do the double over the men from the Second City for the first time in 65 years! The last time Barnsley defeated Birmingham home and away in the same season was way back in 1946-47 when they followed up a 3-1 home win in September 1946 with a 2-1 win at St Andrews Stadium four months later.

Of course on this occasion The Reds are looking to follow up an even more emphatic September victory over the Blues. That 5-0 victory in front of the SKY cameras three months ago will live long in the memory for Reds fans.

It was however only their third victory at Birmingham in 14 meetings and they have won only one of the last seven at Oakwell, with the Blues triumphing in four of their last six visits.

This though is Boxing Day, a day Barnsley traditionally do well on although they have lost on each of the last two years. Before that they went six Boxing Day’s without defeat and they have lost just three of their last 14 Boxing Day games.

Birmingham also fare well on this festive date, and are unbeaten on Boxing Day for five years. They have lost just one of the last 10.

Barnsley require four more goals to reach 100 against Birmingham.

One thing Birmingham games seem to guarantee lately is goals- there have been 20 in the last six matches involving them, 10 for the Blues and 10 for the opposition.

The Blues have though won just one of their last eight matches, a run that has included four draws and they have kept just one clean sheet in that time.

After 11 long matches, Barnsley finally secured a victory on Saturday with that last gasp Marcus Tudgay effort but unfortunately they have spent Christmas in the relegation zone for the first time since the Premier League season of 1997-1998.

That result was their third victory on the road this season- one more than they have managed at home, and all three of those wins have come in the time since they last won in front of their own supporters.

Barnsley have gone nine home games without victory- their longest winless home run for 59 years!. Back in the 1952-1953 season Tim Ward’s side finished that campaign without winning any of their final 11 home matches, something that was punctured by a FA Cup home victory over Brighton. They finished that season bottom of the Second Division, and were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in 19 years.

They have managed just eight league goals at Oakwell this season, the lowest in the division.

The Reds have gone 12 matches since they last kept a clean sheet, their longest run for exactly 12 months, they went 14 without a shut out from 26th November 2011 to the 18th February 2012.

STAT! – Birmingham are undefeated in their last five Boxing Day games (W3 D2) and they have kept clean sheets in three of them. This is the first time in three years the Blues have been away on Boxing Day.